First of all I would like to wish all on the Forum a "HAPPY HALLOWEEN" Now do you think that kids should be allowed out on their own on Halloween night ? with all the weirdos about( around here anyway) i personally think that they should be accompanied, But what do you all think?

Are there any actual cases of children being harmed as a result of Trick or Treating? I think any stories that we've heard are purely apocryphal - but maybe I'm wrong.

As Spidey says though - bothering people unnecessarily is far more of a problem. I know that my mother sits in the dark on Halloween night rather than having to get up every five minutes to answer the door.

Personally, I really can't be doing with these sort of things - that goes for Penny-for-the-guy, carol singers, Jehovah's Witnesses, people selling stuff door to door or anything else that means having to go to the front door.

Just as I got into bed last night, some idiots nearby started to set of fireworks. Thankfully it didn't last too long.

Basically I'm saying that I don't care what the rest of the world does as long as it doesn't bother me.

“Men never commit evil so fully and joyfully as when they do it for religious convictions.” – Blaise Pascal

I live at the end cottage on the way out of the village. The other 19 homes have a kind of raised path with all their gates opening off it. We have our own front gate. Very few people know how to get to our front door and I've made it even harder by growing trees and shrubs to make an indirect route to the front door. This is JUST as I like things to be Occasionally, some cowboy gardener comes knocking to offer to 'tidy up' the garden.......big mistake The Jehovah's Witnesses are cunning and come to the back door but I don't mind since they deserve their moment if they're clever enough to catch me at home and they're really nice (if deluded) ladies.

When I used to smoke I used to go outside to do it and stand in the porch. I happened to be doing this on Halloween evening when a bunch of kids came down the path to knock on the door. They didn't see me and I said in a loud and gruff voice "What do want!" I've never seen kids jump so high.

I felt terribly guilty afterwards (for all of 5 seconds).

“Men never commit evil so fully and joyfully as when they do it for religious convictions.” – Blaise Pascal

Tonyblack wrote:When I used to smoke I used to go outside to do it and stand in the porch. I happened to be doing this on Halloween evening when a bunch of kids came down the path to knock on the door. They didn't see me and I said in a loud and gruff voice "What do want!" I've never seen kids jump so high.

Susanne - having experienced Halloween in the US and the UK I would say that they are very different things. In the US it's a lot more fun. The UK version is more about annoying people, begging for sweets and throwing eggs at people who don't have sweets for them.

“Men never commit evil so fully and joyfully as when they do it for religious convictions.” – Blaise Pascal

Once some kids knocked on our door at Halloween. They were older teens. I took a photo of them & gave them a half eaten box of tic tacs I had in my work bag. I wouldn't let my kids wander around at night for any reason.

Catch-up wrote:In regards to the original question, depends on the kids and their ages, and the area. If they do go out without a parent, they should be in a group at least.

This ↑. My opinion in general is that today's media, having the job of cramming every second of 24 hours with information to tell us, makes a big deal out of very infrequent occurrences and this causes the general public to get unnecessarily worked up.

Unless you live in an extremely sketchy part of town, there is a 99.99% chance your (age appropriate) child will be perfectly fine. If you've taught them well, they'll look both ways before crossing the street and in all probability cause little or no mischief.